Grand Narrative Questioned in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s  The Palace of Illusions

Akanksha Barthwal

Akanksha Barthwal Doon University

Keywords: Lyotard, Post-modernism, Grand Narrative, Draupathi, Mahabharata

Abstract

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni in, The Palace of Illusions portray a different image of Draupathi, the princess of Panchaal, the daughter of King Dhrupad and the wife of the five Pandavas. The author in her work highlights epic through the eyes and mouthpiece of Panchali. Panchali is here, voice of the current work. The writer writes her poignant work, hearing stories about magic and illusions, about great epics and legends, about religion, politics, and relationships during her childhood. She takes her inspiration from the great epic Mahabharata, which is believed to take place during the Dvapar Yug. Mahabharata is a fascinating tale of apsaras and asuras. It has many mythological tales of heroes and their valour. In the current study deals with the post modernist pespective through the French theorist Jean-François Lyotard . The postmodernist believes, that these grand narratives which function in a way, that they become a totalizing factor in determining the myths, legends and tales and provide legitimation for the same. He then believes that these grand narratives become an overarching umbrella for the stories and hide the facts and pieces of information which are as valid as the narratives.

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Author Biography

Akanksha Barthwal, Doon University

Akanksha Barthwal is a poet and writer. Her poems have appeared with many journals including The Taj Mahal Review. She is a post-graduate in English Literature and a graduate in German Honours. Presently, Barthwal is looking forward for a Ph.D. degree. The areas of her research and interest are Indian Writing in English, Literary Theory and Criticism, British Poetry and Drama, Feminist Literary Theory and Gender Studies.

References

Primary Source
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